According to research published in the February Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Swinging a weighted bat before hitting doesn’t enable a baseball hitter to swing any faster.

Scientists at three universities asked 22 collegiate baseball players to take three swings each with a test bat, followed by two easy swings with each player’s game bat, unweighted. Each player then hit three balls off a tee. The tests bats included six bats variously weighted, two normal bats without weights and two underweight bats.